Nepal foils Tibetan vote for govt in exile

Nepal acted on information provided by the Chinese embassy and foiled an attempt by Tibetans trying to vote for a government in exile. China has been protesting against activities carried out under the banner of the â€˜Free Tibetâ€™ movement in Nepal.

The police foiled the election mid-way and seized ballot-boxes after it received stern instructions from the Prime Ministerâ€™s office on Sunday not to allow the voting to continue â€œat any costâ€. The voting was in progress in Bouddha, Swayambhu and Jawalakhel areas. A sizeable population of Tibetans in exile attended the event, however, they abandoned it after the police arrived. The crackdown is in keeping with Nepalâ€™s stated policy that it will not permit its soil to be used by Tibetans for political activities.

On Sunday a primary vote was on to elect a Prime Minister â€” a successor to the current Samdong Rinpoche â€”- and a 44-member government in exile.

â€œThe government acted swiftly after the Prime Ministerâ€™s office received information from Chinese authorities at the embassy,â€ a Home Ministry source told The Indian Express. Tibetan activists protested against the governmentâ€™s action saying it was â€œagainst the human rights of the Tibetansâ€. â€œIt violates the sanctity and core principle of Nepalâ€™s relations with China, and on the other hand, it also amounts to abuse of the hospitality extended (to refugees) by the host country,â€ an official in the Foreign Ministry said.

Guess the Communist Party of Nepal has been completely consumed by China and now Nepal is second Pakistan. There's no point of engaging them after the blunders that we committed some years back and are still committing by meddling their internal affairs which has simply given Communists the ticket to provoke people. I think we should keep reminding Nepal that China isn't the only regional power they border and that they better play a balanced game. Sometimes a bit of diplomatic force is necessary to convey the necessary points. The first thing to do that is to review Nepal's ties with us and to change the stupid meddling "Democracy Boy" policies that our GOI has been carrying on to impress USA. Need more practical and realistic policies for Nepal.

CHINA is having or developing a great relationship with the NEPAL government. It is time for the INDIAN government to make NEPAL a friendly and strategically important state for INDIA by making some NEPAL friendly policies and we should also try to bring the Rebel leader of the NEPAL under our influence.

^^ Attempting to appease Maoists will do no good to us since this will spell doom on local level as Maoists from across the borders are united and are like modern day Khmer Rouge. It is only best that we further push those idiots into Beijing's arms than they already are. Communists are anti-India and they will continue to be no matter what we do. They might resemble us in features but their loyalty is always with Chinese or any other Communist powerful country that has significant world name; this includes so-called Indian Communists who still refuse to accept 1962 as Chinese aggression and still have Mao's picture hanging in Politburo's office.

We must now approach the right wing organizations of Nepal that are conservative since we still share more cultural and religious ties with Nepal than Chinese do. This means greater people-to-people understanding and we already have an advantage in this field. It is time that GOI utilizes our own assets from the right wing and interacts with Nepali nationalist organizations assuring them of non-interference and friendly approach through Religio-Cultural prism that GOI plans to adopt in wooing Southeast Asian countries as well. For example, GOI agreed to renovate a 11th century Shiva Temple in Laos as a confidence building measure through common culture and religion prism. Nepal and INDIA already share this. Apart from GOI inefficiency and short-sightedness, there's no reason I see why Nepal should move towards Beijing more than us. Their king Virendra was staunch ally of ours and things got worse only later.

Nepalese govnmt of course has to act on her own "national interest', not permiting its soil to be used for undermining another sovereign state.

After overthrowing the monarchy and having a republic, Nepal has made a giant step towards a modern state, out of that 'semi-feudal' society. China will inevitably be an enabler in such a progress with what Nepal needs, a rail link to the landlocked country, know-how to lift the masses out of poverty and bigotry, and a vast market plus a comprehensive industry. China is there to help Nepal for mutual benefits.